The dark side of the War on Terror

An independent, nonpartisan group of experts has established beyond doubt what the Bush administration refused to admit in the dark years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and what the Obama administration refuses to confront: "It is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture."

Although not surprising, the confirmation still shocks through its detailed analysis of practices the world's supposed leading democracy used for years in secrecy, with attempts at justification from the highest levels of government.

It confirms what many thought, describing chilling practices the U.S. would condemn among the world's most repressive regimes - waterboarding, shackling prisoners to the ceiling, the use of "black sites" (secret prisons) and the "enforced disappearance" of suspects. ...

The report is a damaging review of that most recent era and an alarming account of how deeply the U.S. breached its principles in the name of the War of Terror.

"There was no justification for the responsible government and military leaders to have allowed those lines to be crossed," the report states. "Doing so damaged the standing of our nation, reduced our capacity to convey moral censure when necessary and potentially increased the danger to U.S. military personnel taken captive."

Produced after two years of research, the report is the first exhaustive, public look at practices of President George W. Bush's administration following 9/11 and the elaborate means the administration used to justify and conceal its torture and abuse of people suspected of terrorism.

Moreover, according to the report sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Constitution Project, "the nation's highest officials bear some responsibility for allowing and contributing to the spread of torture."

Ultimately, it concludes the government's use of torture and "cruel, inhumane or degrading" treatment of prisoners violated U.S. laws and international treaties and inflicted enormous damage to America's standing as the most powerful democracy in the world.

And it brushes aside dubious claims from the Bush administration - including those of his former Vice President Dick Cheney - that the so-called "harsh interrogation" techniques were not torture. ...

Such claims, the report concluded, "are not credible."

Critics likely will attack the task force rather than accept its findings. ...

Although practices appear to have improved under President Barack Obama, the report criticizes the current administration's excessive secrecy and calls on it to declassify many of the documents surrounding past imprisonment and torture of detainees.

"Ongoing classification of these practices serves only to conceal evidence of wrongdoing and makes its repetition more likely," the report correctly observes. ...

And it urges "the leaders of this country," regardless of political affiliation, publicly acknowledge the use of torture and cruelty was a grave mistake and take steps to ensure it cannot be repeated.

Obama thus far has declined to investigate the events that occurred under his predecessor. But he must not ignore the recommendations of this report, including its call to end the secrecy surrounding such a shameful period of the nation's history.

- Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal

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The dark side of the War on Terror

An independent, nonpartisan group of experts has established beyond doubt what the Bush administration refused to admit in the dark years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and what the